AUSTRALIA
The Australian
TESS LIVINGSTONETHE AUSTRALIAN
MARCH 2, 2016
Former NSW premier Kristina Keneally and child abuse victim David Ridsdale say George Pell threw his former boss, retired Ballarat bishop Ronald Mulkearns, under a bus in evidence yesterday.
If only someone could have done the same thing 40 years ago — preferably reporting Mulkearns to the papal nuncio (ambassador) in Canberra — dozens of innocent people’s lives would not have been wrecked by Gerald Ridsdale and other criminal priests who were answerable to Mulkearns.
The former bishop’s leadership, as Pell said yesterday, was a “gigantic’’ failure: “I would have to say that I can’t nominate another bishop whose actions are so grave and inexplicable. There might be some, but they don’t come to mind. His repeated refusal to act is absolutely extraordinary.’’
Pell did not emulate that pattern: when he became archbishop of Melbourne in 1996, he did not hesitate to suspend errant priests when warranted.
Yesterday, Pell agreed with commissioner Peter McClellan that those who had known of Ridsdale’s “dreadful story’’ but did nothing were culpable. Pell, however, insisted he was not privy to what the bishop knew and at the time had not heard rumours about Ridsdale.
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